Thursday 17 March 2011

St Patrick's Day! March 17, Aussie style! A Photo Essay for you...

Don't we just love St Patrick's Day! It is celebrated in most every country of the world because most every country has their share of Irish immigrants. During its history Ireland has had some tragic circumstances, whether war or starvation or crime (often a by product of the previous two causes), which have led to a general diaspora.




A couple of little Irish lads stepping out

Australia has her fair share of the wonderful Irish. As some of you may know, tra la, we were first populated by convicts transported from the shores of England when their waters overflowed with convict hulks (no wonder, if they imprisoned people for stealing a loaf of bread!) Anyway, Australia was populated by the English and those escaping England's shores for whatever reason.


Came across this Colonial family. Been here since 1860. Women in their crinolines and a couple of Irish 2nd offender convicts. They arrived here (at Redcliffe) in the 1820s. The Government was looking for a second settlement after Botany Bay (Sydney) got a bit overloaded 'cause they just kept coming!  This settlement only lasted for 3 and a half years, then it moved to Brisbane Town.

I don't have any convicts in my ancestry. My ancestors are English, German, Scots and IRISH. I usually play up the Irish quarter as I like a bit of blarney. So my Irish ancestors are from County Armagh, Enniskillen way.

So now that you know I have a legit reason for going Irish on you, I'm proud to post some great pics I snapped on the St Patrick's Day Parade last Saturday 12th (well, you know the Irish...you can't exactly parade down the city streets on Thursday at peak hour!)



The Irish kids have gone all out. Great costumes guys!


These cheeky Colleens getting ready to put on their stilts.


Did you know we have Mounted Police in Australia? Pretty useful in controlling these boisterous Irish when they're celebrating! In case you're wondering at these 'old' buildings. The parade assembled in the historic end of town, mid city. All of the buildings are Victorian. That's the old Treasury building behind the ponies. It is now the Treasury Casino and I guess a few coppers were won or lost here after the parade.


Colonial mother and child, circa 1860.


This is a Sub Inspector of Police as they appeared in the 1860s. Little wild Irish boy about to catch him unawares.


The best place to watch the parade is of course from the balcony of the Irish Pub in Elizabeth Street.


Here come the little Irish dancers.


The Sub Inspector escorts a Colonial woman and child. Love that stroller!


Little Irish dancers were everywhere strutting their stuff!


Here we have a truckload of Irish singing their drinking songs, heading off for the pub.


Queen Victoria is not amused!

I've been up at the Queen Street Mall most of the day listening to a fabulous local Irish band, Murphy's Pigs, rockin' the place. Wow! So that got me to thinking, fancy posting about St Pat's Day with no music!

I'll leave you with my favourite Irish boys, U2, singing The Edge's Van Dieman's Land (Australian's earliest name.)


I hope you enjoyed sharing the Brisbane St Patrick's Day Parade with me.





36 comments:

The Happy Whisk said...

Have a fun one :-)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Ha, how cool! I didn't realise they did a parade in Brisbane. The most I do on St Patricks day is wear some green ;)

Denise Covey said...

Thanks Happy whisk!

Lynda: Drink green Guinness?

Jules said...

Our parade last weekend got rained on. Yours seems to go all out and thanks for sharing, great pics :)
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

Grandpa said...

Thanks for the history Denise.

Beautiful parade, beautiful people. Like the building too.

Have a Guinness on me!

Denise Covey said...

Jules: Shame about the rain. Ours was a lovely sunny day.

Grandpa: Unfortunately I don't like the stuff unless it's in a pie!

Michael Di Gesu said...

Love the pics.... everyone seems to be having a blast!


Was Queen Victoria ever amused?

Denise Covey said...

Ha Ha, probably not!

Carol Riggs said...

Great pics--looks like a lot of fun. And sigh, I LOVE me some bagpipes! (tho technically that's Scottish). Have a great rest o' the week, and happy St. P's day!

Jemi Fraser said...

Wow - those are awesome pics! What an enthusiastic bunch - love it!! :)

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing these! What a lot of fun. In Chicago we do St. Patty's day up in grand fashion with a parade and dying the river green. I'm Irish as well and love to play it up at the festivities.

The Words Crafter said...

Love the pictures!!!!

I'm German Irish. I have a temper and I love rainy days....

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

George said...

Ah! the irish the epitomy of freedom where ever you are from - no wopnder it's celebrated in so many places on this dear old earth of ours. So up ya nose to all you toffs and bigots, the irish have it and so do every other freedom fighter. cheers for freedom!!!

Francine Howarth said...

Hi,

Lovely day had by all - great pics!

I've always played down my 1/2 Southern Irish heritage, but then, first hubby was special forces. ;)

best
F

Al said...

Happy St Pats!

You're making me homesick for QLD

Deniz Bevan said...

Those are some great photos - and I love that U2 song. Hey, we've got mounted police too [g] And there're a few Queen Victorias around town - one in the square across from where I work.

Summer Ross said...

Wow- those pictures are wonderful- love the cop with the boy getting ready to get him- LOL made me smile. Have a terrific St patty's day!

Zan Marie said...

The Irish pub in my area is starting it's celebration at 8 AM and it goes till 2AM of the 18th. Considering that it's the rowdiest place in town on a normal night... ; )
I'm 3/4 Irish and proud to be one of the American cousins.

Kittie Howard said...

Thanks for letting me tag along, Denise! I enjoyed not only the parade but the attention to detail in the period costumes. So much went into getting all those petticoats on they deserve a pint (or two!) Chuckled at the little boy about to swat the cop. And thanks for sharing your history and Australia's. England shipped some convicts here, too - to Georgia, orginally founded as a colony for convicts.

Roland's from the western edge of South Louisiana that is bayou-filled as well. I've a cousin who lives on a houseboat there.

Happy St. Paddy's Day, O'Denise!

joanne fox said...

Enjoyed your photos. Happy St Patrick's Day.

Golden Eagle said...

Thanks for the history! :)

I love all the pictures.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Denise Covey said...

Happy St Pat's Day to you all too! Thanks for visiting.

Nas said...

Happy St Patrick's Day! I loved the photos, the costumes are awesome!

MorningAJ said...

We had a parade through town here but the closest I got was hearing it in the distance from our office at work. But I'm not Irish. I don't do much for George, David or Andrew either. I guess it's much bigger in other countries than in England!

Ellie Garratt said...

Happy belated St Patrick's Day! Fascinating post!

Lenny Lee said...

hi miss denise! wow you got me feeling like i was right there watching that parade and having lots of fun. you got some cool pictures for sure.
...hugs from lenny

Anonymous said...

So those were just costumes ... I thought Aussies dressed that way every day. Really though, thanks for the pics and hope you had a safe and fun St. Patty's Day!

obi said...

great photos of what looked like a very enjoyable day ;)

Sarah Allen said...

Great post! Lovely photos :)

Sarah Allen
(my creative writing blog)

Lynnette Labelle said...

I loved the kids in their costumes. Thanks for sharing.

Lynnette Labelle
www.lynnettelabelle.com

N. R. Williams said...

A blogfest kept me away yesterday. No wonder we get along. I'm mostly Scot with some Welsh, Irish and German mixed in, shaken up and comin' out yelling.

I remember reading how they used to put people in prison who couldn't pay their bills. Good thing that's not true anymore with the world's economy in such a mess.

Loved the pictures.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, The Treasures of Carmelidrium.

Lacey Devlin said...

Aw aren't the little dancers cute :) Happy St Patrick's Day!

Roland D. Yeomans said...

All the photographs made me feel as if I were there. Samuel McCord would have liked the mounted policemen. Victor Standish would, of course, have been drawn to the short-skirted dancers ... until Alice caught him!

May your weekend be filled with happy surprises. Thanks for your review of my book on Amazon, Roland

Jessica Bell said...

Love the girls in their green tutus!

Anonymous said...

Happy late St Paddy's Day! Love a holiday that lets us celebrate our roots. :)

I enjoyed your pics, especially the one with the boy about to club the policeman! LOL

Denise Covey said...

What lovely responses to my St Paddy's Day pics and story.